3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

The course will provide an overview of the basic foundations of transport and dispersion phenomena in the environment (surface water, groundwater, ocean and atmosphere). The emphasis will be on mathematical formulation of transport equations, analytical solutions, physical insights, methods of analysis of concentration data. The course will cover classical advection-diffusion concepts, shear dispersion phenomena, and transport in random velocity fields with applications to turbulent diffusion and macrodispersion in groundwater. Although numerical modeling is not the primary objective of the course, we will build a simple computational toolbox using random-walk particle tracking to visualize and quantify transport processes. Computation of analytical solutions will require MATLAB or python (or equivalent programming, although EXCEL may also suffice with macros). If time permits, we will touch upon reactive transport and non-Fickian transport formulations. Recommended course background in EN.553.291 Linear Algebra and Differential Equations and EN.570.351 Fluid Mechanics.